Students from Imperial College London interviewed CBCGDF: Citizen Science and the Future of Chinese Civil Society
2019/7/31 18:26:00 本站

Recently, representatives of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) were invited to participate in an interview with the master's student program at Imperial College London, which aims to explore citizen science and how it can be used to promote environmental protection among Chinese citizens.

 

The representative of the CBCGDF stated that citizen science is a model that promotes innovation in scientific production while reducing costs. For example, it is well known that Baiji Dolphin was declared a functional extinction by Chinese and foreign scientists in 2007. A large number of experts and scholars organized an investigation activity, which cost a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources but nothing was found. However, the efforts of citizen scientists saved it from being declared functional extinction. In recent years, CBCGDF has continuously encouraged citizen scientists to find evidence. EPNF has launched a Baiji Dolphin Citizen Scientists Search Program called "crossing the river to investigate the Baiji Dolphin" to invite photography enthusiasts, fishermen, scientific enthusiasts, students, and volunteers waited together to look for the traces of the goddess of the Yangtze River, the Baiji Dolphin. Citizen scientists photographed the effective images of the Baiji Dolphin in April 2018, and the contribution and efficiency were obvious.

 

When asked about why various documents often refer to "public participation" but rarely talk about "citizen science", the representative said that "Citizen science" is not widely used in China, but this does not mean that the form of citizen science does not exist. The widespread acceptance of "citizen science" is only a matter of time. It takes time to go from a less used term to a popular one. In the past, due to the influence of the subject education of the long-term feudal society, Chinese civic awareness was weak. After the founding of New China, it gradually began to develop, especially after the reform and opening up. In August 1985, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Notice on Reforming the Teaching of Ideological, Moral, and Political Theory Courses in School." The middle school political class was changed to "Ideological and Political Lessons". Seven sets of textbooks have been published in succession in China, among which the course for the first year of junior middle school is a citizen. Since junior high school education is an important part of the nine-year compulsory education in mainland China, from then on, the civic awareness of mainland China has gradually become popular. At present, the development of citizen science has great potential in China, and the government and people attract much attention for it. On 25th February 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Plan for the implementation of the program for the implementation of the action plan for the national scientific literacy (2016-2020)”, which included the ability of citizens to participate in public affairs in the second stage of development.

 

(The above is organized according to the materials provided by the interviewer.)


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/9392.html


By / Zheng Nanyu